For those of you who have not yet discovered the wonders, and business potential, of Pinterest you’re probably thinking “what is Pinterest?” and “how does Pinterest work for business?” Here’s a short explanation of why Pinterest is good for business.
Pinterest explained: Ok, think scrapbooks. Think about planning something and buying loads of magazines, a paper scrapbook, a pair of scissors and a stick of glue. It could be that you’re planning a wedding or looking at ways to spruce up a campervan and kit out with the latest outdoor gadgets. You’d doodle on the front of your scrapbook the title “Wedding” or “Family Road Trip”. Inside the book, you’d glue all of the lovely pictures from the magazines that inspire you – the things you want.
Pinterest works on the same principle but way better! Instead of a scrapbook, you create “boards”. You will give each board a title but instead of gluing pictures, you “pin” images, videos and links that inspire you to the relevant boards from your Pinterest searches – you can have multiple boards on the go too to satisfy all of your interests.
What makes this image-heavy social media platform extra clever and why you should use Pinterest as part of your social media marketing strategy is because the user can see where to purchase the lovely inspiring things they consider worthy of a pin. Images and product videos are a link to websites!
So, is Pinterest good for business? YES, absolutely!
This’ll put a smile on your face:
Amusing as this is, it should also help you to realise that people use this lifestyle-focused platform to improve their homes, their skincare regime, their party hosting skills, etc – maybe they do sometimes search for the unachievable, but if your product can satisfy their cravings and give them what they desire you’re likely to gain a new customer.
And it’s FREE so it’s definitely worth investing the time to learn how to use Pinterest for business and reap the rewards of finding out how to market a business through Pinterest!
Someone sees your picture and thinks, “Oh wow, I really like that!” They are only one click away from your website AND they are in buying mode.
As you can see already, Pinterest is great for businesses who sell products online and that have an amazing library of great images.
“In a nutshell Pinterest is a massive online catalogue of images.”
Who’s the audience?
Research suggests that 80% of Pinterest users are female, but when you consider there are 335 million users (Hootsuite, March 2020) worldwide, the 20% of the male audience runs into the millions. This statistic should not put you off if your target audience is predominantly male.
Pinterest’s active user base grew by 26% last year according to Hootsuite and is now the third largest social network in the US.
I experienced phenomenal success on Pinterest when I worked for Nomad Games which targeted mainly men, with just over 900 followers the company page was generating just short of half a million monthly views. This was after just 12 months, it was the third biggest social media referrer to our website, yet it had the least amount of followers – so I can guarantee that Pinterest marketing really does pay off.
I also know of a luxury shirt company – they sold corporate shirts for businessmen – their sales shot up as women started buying them for the working man in their life!
Is it a bit like Instagram?
This is a question I get asked a lot by my clients as both social media platforms showcase images. It’s a great question!
“Pinterest is like an organised Instagram, where images are filed really well into subcategories so customers can easily find what they are looking for AND BUY IT. And these images DON’T disappear down the timeline. It’s more like Google than Instagram”.
Use your links and your best photography: Step away from the selfies!
When you post an image, you will be actively encouraged to put in a link. This makes the platform so unique as other social media platforms don’t want their users to move away from their platform. Pinterest LOVE this customer interaction and wants their users to check out your website. Pinterest tip: Use quality images – think quality not quantity.
Users simply click on the image they like and get directed to you and your shopping cart!
87% of “Pinners” make a purchase. What a powerful tool for your business!
Knowing that people are on Pinterest to shop should give you the drive to start selling on Pinterest. It’s not like Facebook, where users head there to check out what their friends and family are up to! Pinterest users, a.k.a. Pinners, want to be sold to – it’s why they are there.
“Should I be using Pinterest to promote my business?”
If you answer ‘yes’ to at least one of these questions – go for it! It’s the social platform for you if you sell online products to the consumer as you’ll achieve great visibility from your target audience and see an increase to traffic being directed to your website!
Rank high on Google too!
The good news doesn’t stop there either. If you use your keywords and key phrases well, you’ll rank higher on Google too – another place buyers head to when they’re in purchasing mode! Potential customers will find you whether they follow you on Pinterest or not AND long after you’ve posted an image, you’ll still get views and traffic to your website.
Getting started on Pinterest: how to grow a Pinterest business page
Join me on my Pinterest: Grow Your Business Online Workshop which starts on the 2 June 2020 where I’ll be teaching you how to generate sales through Pinterest. I’ll be showing you how to optimise your page, what key words and hashtags to think about to rank high in the searches and develop a strategy to grow your followers, plus stacks of other Pinterest tips.
This Pinterest for business course will be delivered over four days from 2 June over Zoom video conferencing between 9.30 – 10.30am. For a complete breakdown of what I’ll be covering on each day head to Eventbrite.
Bye for now,
Becs
